Wade fined for BBL final frustration

Assistant editor Daniel Brettig had been a journalist for eight years when he joined ESPNcricinfo, but his fascination with cricket dates back to the early 1990s, when his dad helped him sneak into the family lounge room to watch the end of day-night World Series matches well past bedtime. Unapologetically passionate about indie music and the South Australian Redbacks, Daniel's chief cricketing achievement was to dismiss Wisden Almanack editor Lawrence Booth in the 2010 Ashes press match in Perth - a rare Australian victory that summer.

Matthew Wade's moment of frustration after being run out for a diamond duck - without facing a ball - during the Hobart Hurricanes' loss to the Adelaide Strikers in the Big Bash League final has been sanctioned by Cricket Australia with an A$6000 fine.

After he was run out by a direct hit from Strikers wicketkeeper Alex Carey in the closing overs of the Hurricanes' failed chase, Wade was caught on camera hitting his viewing-area seat with his bat before walking towards the dressing room.

Charged with abusing ground equipment under the CA code of conduct, Wade contested the offence and faced the match referee Peter Marshall in a hearing, where the offence and the proposed penalty were both upheld. Marshall proposed the harsher penalty as it was Wade's second offence within 12 months - he was reprimanded for sending off the Sydney Thunder's Jos Buttler earlier in the BBL.

"The offence occurred during the Hurricanes' batting innings, when Wade was dismissed," a CA spokesman said. "As per the CA Code of Conduct procedure, Match Referee Peter Marshall reviewed the umpires' report and - as a higher range of sanctions was applicable given it was Wade's second Level 1 offence in the last 18 months - a sanction of $6,000 was proposed, should the player accept the umpire's version of events.

"Wade denied the offence and opted to contest the charge at a hearing before the Match Referee, however he was found guilty and the proposed sanction was upheld."

Having played a critical innings in the BBL semi-final win over the Perth Scorchers at the top of the order, Wade was demoted to make room for his regular opening partner D'Arcy Short. Tim Paine, who had claimed Wade's place in the Australian Test team this summer, opened with Short instead.

"Just a little bit about left-right [combination], there's a short boundary here," Hurricanes captain George Bailey had said. "So if D'Arcy had been the first out, Wadey would have gone in and had that impact he has had in the last couple games in the first six. But D'Arcy batted well, which meant we could try and use Wade at the back end to try and target the short boundary. But the damage was done by that stage."

CA have come down heavily on players during the BBL this season, fining a succession of captains and teams for over rate offences in particular.